Certain items such as photographs, drawings and floppy disks, which may be extremely valuable, are ordinarily sent through the mails and through private courier services despite the fact that bending or wrinkling of such items through inadequate package protection may ruin or at least greatly decrease the value of such items.
A number of different cardboard mailer designs have been used or proposed. While most provide some increased stiffness over conventional paper and plastic type envelopes, they still provide only a marginal or slight improvement against bending and folding over the protection provided by stiff paper envelopes.
Some items which are customarily mailed require still greater protection. For example, floppy disks with exposed data storage surfaces need protection from contact with abrasive surfaces within the mailer. Both paper and cardboard have surfaces which are sufficiently abrasive to pose a potential threat to the surface of any floppy disks coming into contact with such surfaces.
The only mailers currently known for protecting floppy disks from abrasion are formed of folded cardboard in a conventional fashion and provided with a separate, loose, folded foam plastic liner. The foam liners are made separately from the cardboard mailers and inserted into the mailers by the manufacturer. The number of different items being fabricated and the number of steps needed for assembly increase the cost of such mailers greatly over the cost of corresponding mailers without the foam liners, even when taking the material costs of the foam into consideration. Also, the foam material utilized is as thick or thicker than the cardboard, greatly increasing the bulk of the packaging. At the same time, the foam material provides no additional rigidity or structural strength. Typically, the foam liner material is treated with an anti-static agent to further protect the floppy disk.